Dismounts, Remounts; Ups and Downs

Well, that's bike racing - I've personally had some mixed fortunes this weekend. It was worth it though. Saturday brought a 5 hour round trip to Lake Windermere for Round 1 of Rapha Super Cross, good atmosphere but a poor start and a bike clagged with mud meant I was not going to be able to compete in this field. A hell of a lot of riders starting also made it very difficult to get stuck in... I actually had to stop mid-race to clear mud from the wheels as I literally could not ride. A helpful marshall informed me I'd 'lost at least 30 places'...

There is never a time when this information is gratefully received.

My fantastic support team, composed of Rich Holland and girlfriend Shonah Dobson (to whom credit is due for the accompanying photo) were there to give encouragement and cowbell-rings, despite my headshakes and grimaces throughout. Always a great lift every lap, even if I couldn't produce a placing to warrant their support.

Despite my issues, it was great to see Tony Fawcett (Blackhawk Bikes) and Adam Martin (Cestria Cycles) absolutely kill it up front. The self-named 'North East's answer to the Chuckle Brothers' (on bikes) stormed round and won some Rapha swag in the process. Good to see, and some great banter to be had post-race with them, as well as Kenny, and support team Graeme and Mrs Fawcett. Furthermore, it was enjoyable to sit in the sun and watch the elites slog it out through the mud with a beer.

As for Sunday... a much more enjoyable course at Gateshead Stadium, fast and dry, provided more of a chance with some cheeky off-camber sections. After a ride over to loosen the legs and a great start for me, I found myself sitting with 2 MTS riders in the top 15 and feeling good; then disaster, a third-lap puncture! I ran back to the pits and borrowed a wheel, managing to get back in to the mix, but not as quickly as I'd have liked, and I was pretty much done for. Moreover, I'd been having some serious trouble with my hands from the previous day; huge blisters on my palms had developed and my hopes of managing the damage failed spectacularly.

Cross Club riders Neal Wesley and Adam Cooke did well; Neal making up for last week with a great ride and Adam in particular putting in a good shift for his first ever cross race. I personally can't make too many excuses though, as Tony Fawcett, Adam Martin and Kenny Haswell again put on a great race and completed the 1, 2, 3 respectively.

All in all, a disappointing weekend of racing in terms of positioning and performance, but lessons have been learnt and some good laughs made up for it. As always, I'd do it all again; its certainly better to have a bad day on the bike, than a good day in the office...

Enjoy your riding and racing everyone, and just think; if you did have a bad weekend, it could have been worse - you could have crashed into a cameraman...

This blog post goes out to all who had a bad weekend, but particularly Niels Albert - Chin up mate, there's always next week :)